Japanese Bring Bali Home

Balinese Style Dwellings Popular with the Japanese.

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(3/25/2002)

Apparently, so many Japanese visitors feel so at home in Bali that they decide at the end of their stay to take their home "back home" to Japan.

According to a Bali-based official of Indonesia's Department of Industry and Trade, Mr. Ketut Gde Mendera, the wantilan pavilion-style houses in Bali are a big "hit" in places like Tokyo and Kyoto, encouraging Japanese entrepreneurs to begin exporting these dwellings in a semi-knockdown state.

In deciding to erect these small wooden structures that combine native woods, bamboos and elephant grass thatched roofs - the Japanese are following visitors from Australia, Latin America, Europe, Singapore and Korea who have arranged for the export and re-construction of the Balinese traditional houses in the backyards.